Lover Reborn
by excalibur's fire
Summary: Taken. He had had everything taken from him. When his soulmate is taken he decides that he will give his life to end the taking. But Magik judges everyone individually. HPXFFVIII HPXSeifer Slash
1. Chapter 1

Title: Lover Reborn

Author: Excalibur's Fire

FanFiction: Harry Potter X Final Fantasy VIII

Pairings: HPxDM (Past), HPXSeifer Almsay

Warnings: Slash, there is boy/boy love in this, if you don't like that please don't read, you yelling at me about it isn't going to change my mind on it so it is just moo point (like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter, lol)

Rating: M

Disclaimer: Neither Harry Potter world nor Final Fantasy VIII worlds belong to me, if they did there would be a lot more man on man loving, ('cause that shite is hot,)

Chapter 1 - Taken

Taken. He had had everything taken from him. At just over the age of 1 he had his parents taken from him, a very bad wizard murdered them in front of his eyes. At the age of 4 he had his childhood taken from him, this was when he was old enough to start doing the chores, cooking and going to school with his cousin. At the age of 11 his innocence was taken from him, the wizard who murdered his parents possessed a professor at his boarding school, when his hands touched the professors face he burned up and crumbled to dust, he had killed. At the age of 14 his mothers sacrifice was taken from him, the murder used his blood to bypass the sacrificial defense that his mother created when she died. At the age of 15 his godfather was taken from him, a false vision tricked him into running into danger with his friends and his godfather's death was the final outcome. At the age of 16 his friends were taken from him, in a battle one friend was crippled so that he would never walk again, while the other had been hit by a curse that ate away her mind and magic, she was now a muggle of age three. At 17 his heart and soul, his very reason for existing was taken from him, he watch as his love was sentenced to die, he watch as his love was ripped from his arms, he watched as his love was marched through the veil.

_High pitched laughter, pounding feet, red hair, screaming, green light, silence._

_"Get out here you useless child, it's about time to make yourself a little less worthless, it's time you started to earn your keep. Get to the stove and make us some breakfast." A meaty hand reached out a grabbed the back of his neck._

_"But I don't know how to work the stove, sir."_

_"Don't talk back to me!" The hand released his neck to whip around and smack him across the face; he fell to the ground, his hand at his check. _

_His aunt huffed, "Fine, I'll show you, once mind you, so I want you paying attention, I won't repeat myself". She grabbed his ear and dragged him to the kitchen where he had to pull up a stool; he was still far too short to reach the counter properly._

_"Where you expecting someone else?__ A large dungeon bat, perhaps? No."_

_"Tell me what you see in the mirror!"_

_"I can give you back your parents, just give me the stone!"_

_"It burns, Master, it burns!"_

_"NOO!"_

_"Blood of an enemy, forcefully taken." The words echo in the back of his head as he struggles._

_"My Lord."__ Something rises out of the cauldron, it's horrible._

_"I can touch you now." A finger presses to his forehead marking the final moments of his mother's sacrifice; he's on his own now._

"Stupify."_ It's just a stunner, it can't kill._

_The body flies, arcing gracefully through the fluttering tattered veil._

_Hands everywhere, holding him back, keeping him from reaching. It's not too late, it can't be too late!_

_Chaos everywhere.__ Lights flashing from spells, people screaming curses, people screaming from curses. Blood smatters up the side of his face, but it's not his. The redhead at his side is down, a darker red staining the ground under him, at their distraction the brunette on his other side is hit by a turquoise curse, it was such a pretty colour though._

_"I'm sorry, it was a dark curse that severed his spinal cord, he won't walk again, he most probably wont move his arms again either."_

_"We've been able to stop the curse on her, but it has been slowly eating away at her mind and magic, at this point she is entirely muggle and has the mind of a three year old. Her parents are coming to get her, she will return with them to the muggle world. Please, say your good-byes now."_

_"The sentence for being a Death Eater is the veil." They were bringing back old punishments, Death Eaters were continuously being freed, they needed something permanent. _

_"No! He's not a Death Eater! You can't do this!"_

_"He is branded. He must face his punishment."_

_"He was forced into it! Please! You can't do this, no." Hands everywhere, holding him back, keeping him from reaching...no, they held him last time, they couldn't this time._

_"No!" With a great retch he pulled himself free and ran to his lover._

_"Harry-" His love started._

_'No! You can't leave me, you promised! Forever and a day! You swore! Please!" Hot tears run down their faces, he"s holding his love as tight as he can. "I can't go on without you." He whispers._

_"You can and you will." His voice cracks. "You will continue, you will fight, you **will** live. And, if Magik wishes it, we will be together again. But not yet, you will live your life before you come to me." Using his nose to nudge his lover into looking at him; they look deeply into each other's eyes. "Green was always my favourite colour."_

_"And grey was mine."_

_'Draco Malfoy, you are sentenced to walk through the veil for Magik to judge your immortal soul." The official voice broke their thoughts, gazes and hearts. Hands grabbed them, pulling them apart._

_"I love you, Draco Malfoy, forever and a day."_

_"I love you, Harry Potter, I'll be waiting patiently for you, always."_

_Harry forced himself watch as his only true love walked through the veil that had once taken his godfather from him. Someone lead him away and apparated him back to his apartment. He took one of the many pictures of him and Draco together and fell on the floor clutching it to his chest._

The ritual had been started already; Voldemort was calling on the power of Magik herself to make himself immortal. There wasn't any other way to stopping it now, he knew that he wouldn't survive this battle, but he knew that he would be seeing Draco again, soon.

Harry walked calmly into the small forest glen that held a circle of 13 Death Eaters, each with a prisoner to sacrifice the life of, with Voldemort in the center. Unicorn blood had been used to write runes onto the grass around him, he was naked with more runes carved into his skin.

Voldemort began chanting in Latin, calling on Magik to hear him, to take the life from the sacrifices and release it into him, to allow him eternal life, one prisoner's throat was cut and their blood was spilled on the runes on the ground. Voldemort began again, with another prisoner killed.

"You are signing your death warrant now, Voldemort."

Voldemort laughed as the thirteenth prisoner died. "Potter, you are just in time to watch Magik grant me eternal life." Light began rising around him.

'This is a perversion of Magik, she will not allow it." Harry walked up to the edge of the circle. "You have been at the back of everything that has ever been _taken_ from me, parents, innocence, friends, my soulmate, now I am willingly _giving_ to end this." Harry cast a slicing hex on his wrist, pouring his blood on the edge of the circle, unbalancing the ritual.

"Stop him!" Voldemort screamed, but it was too late, his blood, willingly given, was reacting to the magic around the forcefully taken blood. Everything went white.

No one knew what happened in that glen, but a large crater was found with no living souls in the area. Magik had **taken** them all.

Please review, I want to know if there is a chance that people will read this!

Thanks for reading

Excalibur


	2. Chapter 2

Title: Lover Reborn

Author: Excalibur's Fire

FanFiction: Harry Potter X Final Fantasy VIII

Pairings: HPxDM (Past), HPXSeifer Almasy

Warnings: Slash, there is boy/boy love in this, if you don't like that please don't read, you yelling at me about it isn't going to change my mind on it so it is just moo point (like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter, lol)

Rating: K (just to be safe, but I doubt it will get that high)

Disclaimer: Neither Harry Potter world nor Final Fantasy VIII worlds belong to me, if they did there would be a lot more man on man loving, ('cause that shite is hot,)

Chapter 2

When a magical being dies Magik looks through their life and decides what is to be done with the soul. If an innocent dies, their soul is returned to their world and they are reborn; if a cruel person dies, their soul can be held in purgatory for an undetermined length of time before they are reevaluated and a new sentence is awarded, either rebirth or being trapped in living nightmares. In rare cases when someone dies inappropriately Magik will change the world that their soul is reborn in, and in even rarer cases, if Magik feels indebted to a soul they are sent as is, with body and memories intact, to a new world.

Draco Malfoy was one of the former rare cases; Magik saw how unjustly he was treated and did not wish to send him back to the world from where he came. When he stepped through the veil to her she saw that as a child he had been unkind and unfair, but as he grew up that changed and he became a true to friend to those around him and a caring lover to his mate. Magik sent his soul to a new world to be reborn an innocent, yet she left him with a few of his memories, so that he could find his soul mate once more.

DMxHP SAxHP

Seifer Almasy sat in the back of a classroom, the professor lecturing about something or other at the front, every once in a while one of his classmates stood up to answer a question, but Seifer wasn't thinking of that, he was thinking of the dream that he had the night before. It was one of his many reoccurring dreams, but he hadn't had this one for some time.

It always started the same, he was standing in a stone corridor, torches lit the passageway with flickering light, he glanced at a coat of arms beside him and studied his reflection, he was similar, but different. His nose was slightly more pointed, and his face thinner, his build was also slimmer, he didn't have the muscle mass that came from wielding his gunblade. But, his hair was the same, blond, slicked slightly back, just to stay out of his face, and yet his grey eyes seemed more haunted in the dream. He could hear people talking and moving around in a room down from him, then a scream ripped through the air, a tortured, horrible scream that made him want to hide, but he didn't. He pulled a stick from a pocket and, sliding close to the wall, made his way towards the scream. Peeking around a doorway he saw a large group of people with black robes and white masks on, they were huddled around a dark haired figure on the ground. He must have been the one who screamed, he was writhing in pain, blood coming from his lips and dripping down his face, both hands broken with fingers splayed in directions that weren't natural, the man didn't have a shirt on and he could see old and new scars across his body. A quite murmur and he stopped writhing, he was breathing heavily coughing on his blood.

The only man without a mask gave a chuckle, "Come now, just tell us what we want and we will let you go." His only answer was to have blood spat on his foot. Seifer held his breath as the newly bloodied foot connected solidly with the man's face spinning him until he faced Seifer. But he could never see the face clearly, all he would see were the man's eyes, forest green, the deepest most beautiful colour, he knew those eyes, but not from where. He knew that he would help the man escape, he couldn't be left there. He watched as the man was lifted up by magic and dragged from the room.

From there the dream would change, he was starring straight into those eyes, but instead of pain, they were filled with love. "Green was always my favourite colour." He heard himself say. "And grey was mine." Was always the response. From there he would wake up, the green eyes flashing in his mind, forever and a day.

He saw the magic used in the dream, he saw men and women wielding this power, he wanted to be near it, it drew him, these dreams were the reason that he had always been obsessed with sorceresses, or just magic in general, the reason why one of his greatest dreams and desires was to become a Sorceress's Knight. He just needed a sorceress, or a male sorceress, was there such thing? It wasn't common if there was, he had never heard of one; but the dream…

It was also thanks to that dream, or the green eyes to be exact, that he remembered his childhood. They were told when they entered Balamb that due to the use of GFs they would lose memories of their pasts. The GFs, when equipped, nestled right into the mind and lay across the memories, not causing memory loss, just causing you to not remember. He found that when he had a dream with the green eyes, or even just thought about them, he remembered things more clearly. Even before Garden he would wake up at night in the orphanage where he grew up and remember where he had hidden one of Zell's toys the month before, his mind would become much clearer. After he first realized this every night before he went to sleep he would sit for a few minutes and concentrate on the eyes, clearing his mind of everything else. Depending on his mood the eyes changed, when he was mad the eyes were hard, happy they glimmered, sad they seemed to cry with him. They always said that eyes were the reflection of the soul, but it was strange that these eyes, those of someone else, reflected _his_ soul. As Seifer's thoughts began to clear he recalled needing to speak with a professor about setting up his exam preliminary test and getting a partner to train against. He realized he must have snapped out of his thoughts due to the people around him starting to pack up their papers and books, he had dreamt the entire class away.

With a wry grin he made his way down to the front of the class where the professor, a young woman whom he grew up with at the orphanage, was starting to organize her materials and to clean up for the next class. Seifer knew that she didn't remember him; she had been working intimately with the GFs for far too long. When he first came to Garden he had made a few passing comments about the orphanage, when she didn't respond to that he went a bit further with jokes that they had made as children. Quistis Trepe had been known in the orphanage as being a bit bossy, a bit of a know-it-all, a stickler for rules…well, as he could have guessed if he had stopped to think about what he was about to do, she was now none too fond of him.

"Instructor Trepe." He started with some respect (there was no need to rock the boat). "In a few days is the next set of SeeD exams and I was wondering if I should be redoing my preliminary test or will I be assigned a different one? I was also hoping that you might know of someone who I can spar with in the training area?"

She looked at him curiously for a few seconds, he couldn't blame her, he was not one normally to volunteer for extra work unless there was a benefit for him. But eventually she came to a decision, "Alright, go through Ifirit's cave again to prove that you haven't lost your touch, and in the mean time I will round up someone to work with you." She smiled at him and pushed her glasses up her nose, he froze in shock, that small little gesture, he had seen it before. She gave him a concerned look, "Are you alright, Seifer?" She reached out to touch his arm but he jerked back just before contact.

"Yes. I have to go." He nearly flew from the room in his rush to get out. He didn't see the worried look that Instructor Trepe sent him, nor did he hear her sigh as her eyes travelled up and down his fleeing back.

He quickly made his way through the training area to a small hidden area that lovers used for rendezvous at night, but as it was the middle of the afternoon he didn't have to worry about it being occupied. He sat down on the stone ground with his back against the wall, worrying his bottom lip with his teeth thinking, thinking hard. He knew that he had seen that gesture before, but he didn't know where. He sat in the same position starring at the blue sky trying to place it, it wasn't Quistis, he wouldn't have reacted that way to _her_ doing it, the matron at the orphanage had used reading glasses, but it wasn't her, her husband, his Headmaster Cid, wore glasses, but again it wasn't his gesture. Something caught the corner of his eye and he looked down to notice a small green caterpillar crawling across his leg, why hadn't he thought of it before, Green Eyes helped him remember things, he would meditate on the eyes and hope for the best. He closed his eyes pulling himself into his mind, he started organizing things that he had done that day and calming himself down, once he was calm he brought up his mind's picture of the eyes, he looked into them, they were pensive with a hint of excitement today, for nearly ten minutes until he blinked with realization. Why had he never noticed before that the eyes were surrounded by thin black frames, glasses frames; it was his gesture, the black haired man from his dreams, when he grew excited or agitated about something he tended to start vibrating a little and his glasses always slipped down his nose causing him to push them back up.

Seifer spent the rest of the day thinking about the man with the green eyes.

DMxHP SAxHP

The next morning, after homeroom in the classroom on the second floor, Instructor Trepe called for Seifer to stay after for a few minutes. Everyone packed their bags and began to filter out of the room, one or two students staying to ask a question, Seifer leaned casually against a desk as he waited for her to finish with the other students.

"OK Seifer, I have talked to some of the other instructors and we have decided that it would be best if you go through the Fire Cavern again. I am busy this afternoon, but I have talked to SeeD Xu and she has volunteered to supervise your trip." Quistis crossed her arms over her chest and half sat on the corner of her desk. "I have also talked to Squall about working out with you before the exam, you two are both gunblade wielders who are very talented. I think that you would work well together, just please, try not to argue the whole time." She nodded sharply.

"Yes mam, when and where am I to meet SeeD Xu?" Seifer asked, although he had a fairly good idea where he was going to meet her, the front gate of the Garden was the usual rendezvous point.

"You will meet her at the front gate at 2 o'clock this afternoon, don't be late." With that she nodded once more and grabbed her bag and swept from the room, long blond bangs swinging from the motion.

Seifer starred at the spot that she had just vacated, he had a strange feeling about this afternoon.

DMxHP SAxHP

At 1:50pm Seifer could be found at the front gate talking with his two friends about the upcoming exam, they were not taking it, both having failed the written portion, but they knew that Seifer was excited and nervous about it and were trying to comfort him they knew that he was nervous. Raijin, a dark skinned, muscular boy, was doing most of the talking while their albino friend Fujin agreed with a sharp 'AFFRIMATIVE' every few sentences. When Xu arrived at the gate a few at 2:00 Raijin had just finished telling a joke that left Seifer and Fujin clinging to each other trying to stay upright as they laughed. As she waited for the two to collect themselves, Seifer looking much calmer than before, Raijin flashed her a small wink; she knew that he meant for finding a way to calm Seifer down but she still blushed a slight pink, when Raijin noticed this his grin grew. He stood slowly and lifted his hand presenting the back of his hand in salute, he noticed that she wasn't wearing her normal SeeD uniform, she had on a pair of tight brown pants with a loose white blouse, she had a pair of guns strapped to her thighs. Xu noticed Raijin looking at her form fitting pants and became a little flustered.

"Seifer, are you ready for the preliminary test? Do you have any GFs junctioned?"

"Yeah, I have Shiva and Quezecotl junctioned, We are going to Ifirit's cave so I thought he wouldn't be a good one to have junctioned. Shiva and I aren't the best suited for each other but where we are going I thought it best to have her too, while Quezecotl just adores me." He flashed her a charming smile. "I'm ready."

"Good, let's get going, I haven't done much practical practicing lately and am very excited for this." There was an excited bounce in her step that he didn't notice when she had approached them. "Good day Fujin, Raijin."

Raijin's grin only grew as he replied, "Have fun Seifer, and," His voice lowered slightly, "you too, SeeD Xu." Fujin gave Seifer a high five and then turned around to leave, Raijin trailing after her in a cocky little swagger.

They started to walk out of Garden towards the Ifirit's Lair. They crossed east out of Balamb, walking through the grasslands that surrounded Garden fighting over grown mosquitoes until they came to the edge of a small forest.

"Do you want to go through the forest or around it?" Xu asked Seifer, there were more dangerous monsters in it, but they also gave better experience, and that was what this day was about, gaining experience and making sure Seifer was ready for the exam.

Seifer looked into the thick trees, "Let's go through it, I am running low on cures and should draw some more."

"Good thinking, it's always good to be prepared." Their path shifter slightly North to allow them to pass through the edge of the forest.

The small talk that they had been keeping up so far ended as each were keeping an eye out for the harder monsters including the very large forest dweller, the T-Rexuar. They had taken care of around half a dozen large caterpillars before Seifer was about to announce that he had enough cures and they could go back to the field when a sharp cracking came from their left, cracking that was too loud to have come from a Caterpillar or Bite Bug. Both automatically crouched with backs against a tree trunk; Seifer had his gunblade in his hands and was taking deep breaths in preparation for the large battle he knew was going to follow, Xu's face lit up in a smile and she pulled her guns from her hip holsters, it had really been too long since she had a good fight. Her smile faded quickly as an unexpected sound was also heard; an enormous roar followed by a pained scream.

Xu motioned for Seifer to stay behind her and she started to make her way towards the noise quickly and carefully. She lead them into a small clearing that held one of the largest T-Rexuars that either of them had ever see, and at its feet lay a figure with messy dark hair that nudged something in the back of Seifer's mind. He quickly shook that thought out of his head, he needed his head in the game at this point, and this was too dangerous a battle to be distracted. Xu quickly whispered that she was going to move to the other side of the monster and try to distract it from the figure and that his orders were to grab the man and drag him away to where he would be safe. Seifer wanted to argue, but the fact that she used the word 'orders' held him back, that and the fact that the man was in danger right now and the voice in the back of his head was repeating '_save him, save __him__' _over and over again. He nodded and with a quick salute moved away from her and crouched down so that he wouldn't draw the monster's attention back to himself and away from Xu.

Seifer watched as Xu cast Thunder at the beast, more to get its attention then to hurt it, as she ran away from Seifer. The T-Rexuar half turned toward her but seemed torn between the meal that he had in front of him and the annoying pest that was bothering him; as Xu continued to take pot shots at him he finally turned to fully face her and took a couple steps towards her and her battle begun. Seifer watched as she carefully aimed for his eyes and mouth regions with her bullets as they were the only places that the small rounds would make any impact. He saw her beginning to summon Shiva and that's when he made his move, he knew that he needed to get the victim out of there before she cast.

Dropping his bag of items and his gunblade he sprinted forward, he saw the monster lunge for Xu, throwing her to the side with his enormous head, in the processes the giant tail crashed toward Seifer slamming into his midsection, he was unable to dodge it and was sent tumbling to the ground. Scrambling to his feet he made it to the man and grabbed him under the knees and by the arm and swung him over his shoulder in one smooth movement. As he ran back to where his equipment was he felt his heels chilling and could hear the sound of ice cracking behind him as Shiva made her move.

Carefully, but quickly, Seifer put the man down and cast three cures in quick succession; he pulled off his coat and removed his shirt which he tied around a dangerously deep gouge in his leg where the T-Rexuar must have bit him, using the sleeves which he had removed first he was able to hold them to cuts on the man's face, a large amount of blood had already dried to his forehead already though. As he tended the man Seifer talked quietly to him, mentioning his name and saying that he was going to get him help.

Seifer finally pulled his coat around the shaking man just as he let out a groan of pain. "It'll be alright, Doctor Kadowaki is the best there is, she will take great care of you."

The injured man turn his head slightly at the words and without opening his eyes muttered, "I knew you would come for me again, Grey."

Seifer reared back in shock, he had never met this man before, never even seen him, how did he know what colour his eyes were? And what did he mean 'again'? Shaking his head he tried to blow it off as a coincidence, he was mistaking Seifer for someone who had helped him before who just happened to have grey eyes as well; grey eyes weren't that uncommon, right?

Just as the man sank back into unconsciousness he heard the T-Rexuar roar in pain and Xu yell in triumph as the monster made an escape into the deep woods to heal. He heard the crunch of dried leaves as she approached behind him. "How is he? Is he breathing?" She asked breathlessly.

"He is breathing." Seifer answered without turning around, he was still looking at the man curiously. "I was able to bring him back here and cast a few restoration spells on him, I roughly bandaged the deeper ones on his leg, but he needs professional help as soon as possible. He came back to consciousness just a minute ago and muttered something that was too low to hear before falling back into it." Seifer skirted around what the man said, knowing he would be questioned extensively about it if they knew.

"How are you? Do you need any potions before I put them away?" He asked, finally turning around to look at her. He was impressed by what he saw, she had a few scratches on her face, her blouse was ripped in a number of places and she was covered in dirt and sweat, but she did not look like she had just come from a battle with a T-Rexuar. The realization of just how good she was hit him like a wall and the need to be SeeD was nearly overwhelming for a few seconds.

"No, I'm OK. I will be stiff for a couple days, but nothing worse than a few bruises. It's been a while since I fought one of those brutes and I forgot how quick they were compared to their size." She said, using her sleeve to wipe dirt and sweat from her face. "Are you alright?" She asked suddenly.

He looked puzzled at her before following her eye line to his side which was already starting to fill with an angry red and black colour. "I didn't even notice it." He said honestly. "I guess he hit me harder then it felt."

"Well, we need to get all three of us to the infirmary soon. Are you able to carry him back? I don't think that I am strong enough for that right now."

After taking his bags from him, she helped him maneuver the man into a more comfortable position on Seifer's back and they made their way back to Garden; Xu sending Thundara's at any monster that looked like it was going to approach them.

They stumbled their way up to the front gate where a few students were lounging and chatting with each other; at the sight of blood and injuries the duo had much help getting to the infirmary. Seifer was directed to a bed to rest in while Dr. Kadowaki immediately went to work on the mystery man. He could hear Xu explaining what happened as his adrenaline finally flat-lined and he drifted to sleep.

DMxHP SAxHP

He woke up later to the feel of someone messaging his side, it hurt. He groaned and opened his eyes enough to shoot the person causing the pain a dark look, the doctor chuckled quietly when she noticed the look.

"I'm just rubbing some paste into your side, it will help with any swelling that could happen and will promote a quick healing." Seifer noticed the green-blue paste that she was smearing on him and grimaced when he noticed the smell. "Yes, that is the downside of this paste, it smells like rotting vegetation." She explained, interpreting his look correctly.

'How are Xu and our mystery man?" Seifer asked, noticing Xu wasn't in the room any more.

"Oh, Xu will be fine, she has a few scratches and bruises, but she will be back to normal in no time, I gave her a very good muscle relaxing tea that will help, I believe. She's with Headmaster Cid at the moment giving him a full review of what happened. I'm sure you will be hearing from him soon as well." She finished with the paste and screwed the lid back on the contained. "Lift you arm. And your mystery man is still just that, a mystery. Is there much pain?" He shook his head. "Good, now across your crest like so. He has yet to regain consciousness, the cuts on his head are looking good and he isn't bleeding internally. No, pain there either?" He shook his head again. "Good, now down like this. His leg is a little worrisome however. It has a high chance of becoming infected, and the muscle was torn quite extensively, No pain here either? Great! Uh, yes, it was torn extensively so it may never be completely back to how it was before, although it will get better in time. He will always have the scars though, but looking at him that isn't new, he already has quite a few of those." She stepped back and smiled. "I'm going to put some bandages around that to help stabilize it and keep the paste from rubbing off, it might also cut the smell, I have coloured bandages, what's your favourite colour?"

"Green." He answered automatically, his mind going over what she had told him, covered in scars? "Oh, but if you have grey, I want that colour." He saw the questioning look she gave him and he sneered back at her.

He recalled when he was young, maybe six and still living at the orphanage, Squall and he had been drawing picture at the house.

_**Flashback**_

_Seifer and Squall had been sitting at a small picnic table outside colouring, there was very little wind so the boys didn't have to worry about having to chase escaped papers._

_Squall was drawing a picture of the orphanage and all the people in it when Matron came up behind him._

"_Oh, this is beautiful Squall, dear. Is this us?" She asked, pointing to the figures that were standing hand in hand outside the small house._

_He nodded enthusiastically. "This is you," he pointed to the tallest figure, "And Mr. Cid" the figure beside her, referring to her husband whom all the children called 'Mr. Cid'. "And Sis, Quisty, Zell, Irvy, Seifer, Selphie and me! See, we're all coloured with our favourite colours!" And they were indeed, she was purple, 'Mr. Cid' was navy, Sis was light blue, Quisty pink, Zell red, Irvy brown, Seifer green, Selphie bright orange and Squall in black._

_Seifer leaned over and looked at the figures, he saw his picture in green and got mad. "No! You can't draw me green! You have to use grey!" He yelled._

"_But your favourite colour is green." Squall argued calmly, used to outburst by Seifer._

"_But I have to be grey!" Squall rolled his eyes and grabbing the grey pencil crayon began to colour over Seifer in grey._

"_Why do you need to be in grey, dear?" Matron asked curiously. She knew Seifer's temper as well and if she ignored it he calmed down faster. "Green's your favourite colour so it makes sense that he would draw you in green."_

"_But grey is his favourite colour, and if I always wear grey then he can find me easier! He promised." Seifer set down his green crayon with a satisfied sigh._

"_Who's favourite colour is grey, Seifer?" Matron asked warily._

"_His." He answered, pointing to his drawing. It was a child's picture of a man with black messy hair with a small mark on his forehead wearing a grey shirt and black pants, but his eyes were a bright forest green colour, the same shade as Seifer's favourite colour._

"_Who is this?" _

"_I don't know, but he said he was coming for me, so I always have to be grey, I have to be." He picked up the blue pencil and started to colour the sky and clouds behind the man._

"_When did he say this?"_

"_Before."_

"_Before? Before you came here? But you were just a baby."_

"_No, before that." He said it with such conviction._

"_Ok, dear." Matron said, brushing his hair out of his eyes and placing a kiss on his forehead. She smiled at Squall and walked away to find what trouble Zell and Selphie had gotten into in her absence._

_**End Flashback**_

Dr. Kadowaki returned with grey bandages, snapping him out of this thoughts, she wrapped them around his torso and stepped back from him finally. "You are looking good, but I would prefer you stay here tonight just to be sure there isn't any internal damage that we missed. Go back to sleep now Mr. Almasy."

DMxHP SAxHP

It was dark by the time that Seifer woke up again; he lay on his back starring at the white washed ceiling of the infirmary thinking about what happened that day. When class had ended and Instructor Trepe informed him that he would be working with SeeD Xu, to Raijin and Fujin stayed with him, keeping him calm, telling him that he had to be polite if he wanted to go anywhere. Xu had Headmaster Kramer's ear and if he wanted to ever be SeeD he needed to get on her good side, if he did poorly on his exam she might remember this trip and argue in his favour, but if he did well on his exam while being rude and disobedient on this expedition she might argue against him becoming SeeD. And, if he was honest with himself, after seeing her fight today, he really believed that she deserved his respect. She had been amazing, she was not in the field very often and it would be understandable if she became a bit rusty, but she took on that fully grown T-Rexuar by herself with barely a scratch to show for it.

He heard a painful moaning coming from the room next to his. He hissed as he eased himself out of the bed onto his feet so he could check it out. He stood at the door of the mystery man's room, watching as his head moved from side to side; he was moaning and talking under his breath. Seifer walked in and saw that the body was sweating but shivering at the same time, he must have developed a fever over the night. The blond man leaned against the door frame before pushing off to move to the man's side after another moan; he looked around, where was that damned doctor? He remembered watching Matron take care of Irvine once when he had a fever, she had had a cloth and some cool water to wipe his face; Seifer looked around and spotted an clean wash bowl and found a towel above the sink, he filled the bowl with cool water and after setting it down beside the man's bed he dunked the cloth, wrung it dry and softly wiped the sweat off the man's face and neck.

He took this time to look at the body in front of him. The blood had been cleaned off his face and neck so Seifer was able to see his clear tanned skin, although it was flushed due to the fever now; his body was small, but he knew from carrying him that it was made out of tightly packed muscle. His hair was black and messy, but the sweat was making it stick to his forehead, Seifer wiped under his fringe with the cloth, moving it out of the way, and on the right side off his forehead he saw a small scar shaped like a lightning bolt, this made him think of the drawing that he had drawn as a child, scarily enough so far this man looked exactly like the picture he drew, this coincidence thing was starting to freak him out. He was almost afraid to see the man's eyes. Shaking his head he rinsed out the cloth and wiped the man's face again, they didn't find anything that belonged to him in the woods, no ID, no personal items of any kind; they were all wondering where the man came from.

"No, please, Mistress. I need him, please, send me to him. I love him. Grey"

Seifer's hand stilled on the sweaty forehead, that's who he had mistaken Seifer for when he was healing him. Who was Grey?

An hour later Seifer was leaning against the wall asleep with his feet resting on the corner of the bed and the man opened his blood shot forest green eyes a crack. He saw Seifer sleeping beside him and smiled. He sent a silent thank you to Magik before falling into a calm sleep.

DMxHP SAxHP

Thank you for reading everyone. I hope that you enjoyed this chapter as much as the first one, and that the first chapter wasn't some freaky fluke of amazing writing, lol. I am moving tomorrow so I am kind of rushing to get this out, and I won't be getting internet until the 16th, but I am hoping to have a whole lot written by that time. Please let me know what you think

PS, I know that Seifer is a little OOC, but I just can't write him as a jerk! I love him too much.

Thanks everyone!

Excalibur


	3. Chapter 3

Title: Lover Reborn

Author: Excalibur's Fire

FanFiction: Harry Potter X Final Fantasy VIII

Pairings: HPxDM (Past), HPXSeifer Almasy

Warnings: Slash, there is boy/boy love in this, if you don't like that please don't read, you yelling at me about it isn't going to change my mind on it so it is just moo point (like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter, lol)

Rating: K (just to be safe, but I doubt it will get that high)

Disclaimer: Neither Harry Potter world nor Final Fantasy VIII worlds belong to me, if they did there would be a lot more man on man loving, ('cause that shite is hot,)

Chapter 3

Harry watched as his blood dripped on the runes drawn on the ground, he could hear Voldemort screaming in the background and just as he felt someone grabbing his arm the runes glowed a dangerous red colour before turning black. He lifted his head, connecting forest green with blood red snake eyes and smirked before everything went black as the runes reacted.

Harry was floating, he couldn't tell if his eyes were open or not because everything that he tried showed white. He couldn't feel his body; did he have a body anymore? Harry's mind flashed back, he must be dead; he had ruined the runes that Voldemort was using by adding his own, extremely powerful, _willingly given,_ blood to the ritual making it unstable and causing it to destroy everything around it. He regretted not being able to save the prisoners, but he didn't know how to stop the ritual except by stopping it before or after, and he had arrived too late to stop it from being started.

His mind eventually drifted to his life, before dying his life hadn't flashed before his eyes, he had actually been looking forward to that, hoping he would be able to see all his loved ones again before he died, all of his friends that were still alive and who's souls he wouldn't see here for some time yet, and the souls that were released through the veil. No one knew what happened to the souls that went through the veil, if they joined all other souls when a being passes on or if they are lost. He wanted to see his parents and Sirius, but mostly he wanted Draco.

Draco's face sprang up in the white before his eyes. Visions of them together; when they first met at Madame Maulkin's shop and Draco rude tone, when they dueled together in the Dueling Club in second year, when Hermione punched him in third year, his scared face cornering Harry in the infirmary asking if _He_ was really back in forth year, terrified grey eyes meeting green across a torture chamber promising freedom in fifth year, passion filled eyes looking down into his when they first made love in sixth year, _'forever and a day'_ just before he is walked through the veil in seventh year. Harry's eyes and chest burned from the emotions that the images produced.

Harry Potter, you have been judged by Magik, and we have found you deserving. A voice echoed through the white-scape of his mind where he floated peacefully. You have done Magik a great favour in the stopping of Thomas Marvolo Riddle's ritual and have been given a second chance at life. You will be sent with your body and memories intact to a new world where you will have another opportunity with your lover reborn. You will be held here for 18 years for your soul-mate to reach your age. We hope that your life ends better this time _favoured one_. The voice of Magik softened at the end and Harry felt a kiss land gently on his scar as the white faded to black.

The next time that Harry can to consciousness a soft blue glow invaded his eyes.

"Hello young one." A woman's melodic voice greeted him.

As Harry's eyes focused he saw that the voice belonged to a blond haired woman, but his face began to heat up in blush as he saw the rest of her. Her body was covered only barely with shells covering the most intimate of sites, it reminded him of the muggle portraits of mermaids in that aspect, but she had long, slender, pale legs; that ruled out half-fish.

"My name is Siren, young Harry Potter, and this at my side is Carbuncle." She motioned to the green creature with a ruby jewel in his forehead at her side. "We are what are called Guardian Forces, or GFs. Once a human has proved themselves to us we can allow them to call upon our powers in battle to assist them. You will be staying with us for the years that it takes for your soul-mate to grow to an appropriate age for you."

Harry was confused, he just woke up, he was surrounded by 'Guardian Forces' which are used in battle, and apparently he needed to stay here for 18 years if what Magik and this 'woman' told him was true.

"No, no, no! I need to go to him now! Draco! Draco!" Harry was starting to panic, maybe this was all a trick, a trap. Maybe he didn't die, he didn't kill Voldemort and he was being held here for some twisted purpose.

"Calm yourself Harry Potter. He has just recently been born here and as he ages you will be able to watch him, but not influence him or his choices; and before you go to him you will have more in depth visions of him, but you will not know everything about him, you will need to get to know him again. His soul may be that of your loved one, but he has had a whole new life here, with all new experiences. But, do not worry yourself overly, time here with us will pass quickly, and you will soon be with him again." The sweet sound of her voice was making it hard to concentrate; now he knew why she was known as Siren.

Harry was already planning his big escape to find Draco's soul when two more GFs entered the room.

"What do you want now?" Apparently Carbuncle was not a fan of the new entries.

"We heard that there was a human here and we wanted to see him. Is that a crime now Carbuncle?" The large dragon-man drawled as his eyes automatically went to Harry lying in the white sheeted bed.

His companion walked towards the bed, studying the tiny human. "I am Diablos. And this is Bahamut." His voice hissed. It matched his body perfectly. He was nearly 8 feet tall with large black leathery wings and horns on the top of his head, his body was a mixture of red and the purest of blacks.

Before Harry could stop himself he was nodding. "Yeah, if I had one guess I would have guessed Diablos as well." Of course, once he realized what he had just said to this creature he froze, his eyes widening and his breath began coming faster as he heard a sibilant hissing sound. After a few seconds he realized that Diablos was laughing, while beside him Bahamut pounded on his shoulder and let out a loud bark laugh.

"I already like this kid!" Bahamut laughed. "How are you feeling, are you ready to be up and around?" At Harry's insistent nod he walked over and helped Harry stand up to the disapproving scowls of Siren and Carbuncle. "Come on, let's go meet everyone then." He smirked over his shoulder at the two as he led Harry away.

DMxHP SAxHP

Harry spent the next 18 years living with the GFs wherever it is that they live (they were constantly avoiding answering that question for him) and never aging a day. He talked with them when he was lonely, he trained with them when he was bored, he grew to care for them as a family and knew that he would miss their constant presences when he left, but he also knew that he would get to see them again every time they were summoned around him, and from what he had heard of human's lives so far it was more than likely he would be seeing them often.

Just before he was to rejoined the humans in their realm, he was sadly bidding his new family good-bye, ('No, see you later.' Sacred, the younger of the Brothers corrected.), when Diablos and Bahamut handed him a small box. Harry cocked an eyebrow at the duo before cautiously opening it up, he was pleasantly surprised not to find some prank but a real gift, sometimes they reminded him too much of the Weasley twins that he needed to always keep on his toes. A huge smile broke across his face as he lifted a necklace out of the box; it had a silver chain and hanging from the middle of the chain was a lightning bolt shaped emerald with silver veins around it like vines.

He turned his smile to them and Diablos began to explain in his hissing voice. "We have each put a piece of out essence into the emerald. Not enough for you to be able to summon us during a regular battle, enough for us to come when you truly need us."

Harry had to shake his head to clear tears that were threatening to appear, he knew that he would never live it down if he cried at this time; but he didn't hold himself back when he threw himself into Diablos' arms to give him a hug. The strong arms and wings wrapped around him gently but giving him a firm, but brief, squeeze. Neither Diablos nor Bahamut would admit how much they were going to miss the kid, but Harry knew anyway.

After giving his final hug to Bahamut he stepped back and, after giving everyone one last smile, closed his eyes and took a deep breath. _I'm ready now Magik_.

Suddenly, through his mind visions began flashing quickly by. An infant being left on a doorstep in the middle of the night before a figure in a black jacket with the hood up disappears into the darkness, a small boy of 4 or 5 wearing a dirty grey T-shirt colouring a picture with a green crayon, a boy of 8 in a uniform struggling to pick up a sword with a trigger his face lighting up, a boy of 13 or 14 kissing his first girl behind a stack of books in the library, a boy of 16 kissing his first boy behind a group of trees in a small courtyard, a boy of 18 sitting alone looking into the stars.

The face of the boy whose life he just flashed through sprang to the front of his mind. Blond hair catching the sun, grey mischievous eyes daring him to do something, and on his pinks lips a smirk, not a 'Malfoy' smirk but a 'Draco smirk', one that was all his own. But despite those facts there were differences, his face had filled out and wasn't so gaunt, his eyes weren't haunted by deaths that he was witnessed. This young boy he had watched grow, could he be Draco? No, Harry thought sadly, he couldn't be 'Draco', but there wasn't anything saying they couldn't grow to love each other like he and Draco loved, creating a new love all of their own.

Harry felt a slight wind ripple through his shirt and opened his eyes. He immediately closed them again and let out of scream of terror and pain as the large pair of jaws that he saw coming towards him knocked him to the ground and closed on his leg. As the beast got a good grip on him and began to shake him like a dog would shake a rat he opened his eyes one last time and saw a glimpse of blond in the woods. _I don't really see how this is necessary_ Harry thought before he lost consciousness.

He surfaced just minutes later to the lingering presence of Shiva and a soft voice and firm hands quickly bandaging his leg. He listened to the voice that he had been dreaming about for 20 years and without opening his eyes he said, "I knew you would come for me again, Grey." And then fell back into the darkness.

He woke again later feeling completely worn out and in pain, but heard soft breathing beside him. He turned his head as far as he could to the side and looked at the sleeping figure out of the corner of his eye. With the shadow of a smile and a silent thank you to Magik he fell asleep again.

DMxHP SAxHP

The next time he woke it was with a groan, apparently all doctors used that same trick; by turning up the light a patient will groan in pain when they wake up, he clearly recalled Madame Pomfrey using that same trick on his countless times.

"My apologies young man." He heard accompanying the sound of curtains being pulled. As the light behind his eyelids dimmed he attempted opening them again with much more success, he squinted as a blurry figure made their way to the empty chair by his head. He watched as she picked up the clipboard on the small table beside his head before jotting down notes, he assumed she was noting the time he woke up.

"How are you feeling? Any large pains?" She asked as she set the board back down and pulled back the bed sheet; she began to gently prod the areas of his leg around the large cuts checking to make sure no infections had flared up.

"Now, my name is Doctor Kadowaki. I am the doctor here at Balamb Garden. You were brought here two days ago after being attacked by a T-Rexuar."

His eyes widened dramatically. He had been attacked by a dinosaur? He was in a world where dinosaurs weren't extinct? That was so COOL. When Harry was young and going to the muggle school before Hogwarts there was a dinosaur book that they were able to borrow during their silent reading time. All the boys wanted to read the Dino Book, and the only reason that Harry was able to read it was that one day all the students in his class had gone to the local pool for swimming lessons and water activities. His Aunt and Uncle didn't want to pay the 5 pounds that would have been required to pay for transportation to the pool for Harry, so he had to stay back at the school with the assistant teacher that day. He was allowed to read and draw all day as there was no point in learning anything new. When the teacher first told him he could read if he wanted, he had immediately run to the book shelf and grabbed the dinosaur book; he read that book three times cover to cover that day and had always dreamed of seeing them. When he learned he was a wizard he had become excited thinking that maybe he would get a chance to see a real life dinosaur, but apparently they were extinct in the magical community as well. But he had just been attacked by one!

"Yes, very advanced and very dangerous. It was not smart for you to be walking in an area where T-Rexuars roam, you are very lucky that two of our members were walking passed at the time." Dr. Kadowaki said misinterpreting his look.

"Who was it who saved me please?" Harry spoke for the first time to her. His Draco had lived a completely different life and knowing his name would be a good first step to knowing him.

"Two of our members who were walking passed on a training mission stepped in to help you; SeeD Xu Jung and SeeD Candidate Seifer Almasy. They we on their way through the forest when they heard your yells and the sound of a very angry T-Rexuar; SeeD Xu dispatched the monster as Candidate Seifer retrieved you from its grip and field bandaged you."

"They weren't hurt at all were they?" Harry asked sounding slightly panicked.

"No, Xu is a professional mercenary and was able to force its retreat without too much trouble. Some bruises and scratches were the most of her problems, Seifer was hit by the monster's tail and it caused deep tissue bruising in his abdomen, but he is fine now.

"Now, I'm going to need you to answer a few questions for me. We weren't able to find any ID of any kind on you so your chart has quite a few holes in it. Let's start with something easy, your name."

Harry started thinking quickly. This was his chance to start over, he had been Harry Potter for so long and very little good came from that name. The hatred of his relatives, the public's eye, a mad man after his life, and the death of everyone he cared about. No he didn't want to be Harry unless his soul-mate called him that, he loved hearing his name fall from Draco's lips and he could wait to know this Seifer better before hearing it from him.

"Verde. My name is Verde." Harry replied. After he started calling Draco 'Grey', he always said that if anyone should be named for their eye colour it should be Harry, they spent an entire afternoon with Ron and Hermione looking up different variations of 'green' or green related items in all different languages and 'Verde' was one that they all had liked. After that they had looked up different names for Hermione, Cocoa after her brown eyes, and for Ron, Azul after his blue eyes. They began using the names as code names when they were on missions. Hermione had found a charm that could be used in the same way as muggle walkie-talkies, when they are cast on you, you think about who it is you want to talk to, say their name (or code name) and talk. The voice would then appear in the ear of the person or people that you wanted to hear, but no one else.

"Alright Verde," she said, noting down the time that it took for him to think of his name, she wasn't going to hold her breath about him being able to answer the rest of her questions. "And where are you from?"

"I'm from Esthar." He recalled the name from his time living with the GFs.

"Good, and what were you doing in the forest at the time is attack?"

With some quick thinking Harry was able to come up with an answer. "I was trained by the Guard there, but always wanted to be a SeeD, so I was travelling here, hoping to make it in time for the SeeD Candidate field exam, I guess I wasn't paying attention to what I was doing." He knew that there was an exam coming up because in one of his visions of Seifer, he heard Seifer mention it, and as he was still 'Candidate' Harry hoped that the exam hadn't come yet.

"Hmm, yes, that is coming up in a few days. If you continue to heal at the rate that you are now I don't see why you can't go with them, although you may have to take a more passive position in the battle. But I am wondering what GFs you have equipped; you are healing at an extraordinary rate."

"Hmm?" Healing quickly? Harry was pretty sure that he didn't have any of the GFs equipped, another thing to set him apart. He made a quick decision not to let anyone know his little oddities though and replied, "Siren and Carbuncle."

As she nodded he let a small breath of relief out, he didn't know what each of them being equipped would do, but made an educated guess due to those two always looking after him when he was hurt or sick.

"That is all for now, do you have any questions for me?" She said as she placed his board back on the table by his head.

"Yes, I was wondering if anyone saw a pair of glasses when they rescued me? And I would like to meet the people who saved me please."

"No, a pair of glasses was not found with you, but I can get you set up after lunch if that is alright with you." She picked up his chart and made a quick note on the side before setting it back down. "And, I will talk to Xu and ask her to come, and I will ask Professor Trepe to ask Seifer to come down as well."

He nodded his head and settled back into the pillow to nap for a while longer. After living with Siren and Carbuncle, Harry learned not to run from a hospital wing, while Madame Pomfrey would yell at them, Siren and Carbuncle would get physical. If you wouldn't stay in the infirmary they would make it so you physically could not leave. Harry had thought this counterproductive at the beginning, but then he realized that once they put you back in the hospital again you weren't going to make another break for it; so in the long shot it worked much better; although Brothers and Ifirit would not leave him alone about the time that they found him hogtied with a black eye lying in the middle of the infirmary floor with Siren and Carbuncle standing over him smirking after his first and only attempted break out.

Harry woke later to Dr. Kadowaki gently shaking his shoulder.

"Verde, you need to wake up and eat something before I check your eyes. SeeD Xu has also stopped by to see you."

Harry blinked sleepily and pushed himself into a sitting position while a brown haired young woman helped him by putting a few more pillows behind his back.

"Thank you. SeeD Xu?" He asked.

"Yes, but you can just call me Xu, the SeeD title is just for formal occasions." She smiled showing straight white teeth. "How are you feeling Verde? We were worried about you for a while. You have some colour back in your cheeks, that's a good sign."

"Yes, thanks to you and Seifer I am. I wouldn't have lasted much longer if you hadn't helped me. And I hear that you took on the T-Rexuar single handed as Seifer risked himself to pull me away. From what I have heard of that particular monster I am very much in your debt."

A tinkling laugh followed, "Oh, I just distracted it enough for Seifer to get you out of there and then called Shiva, she took care of the rest for me. I have never seen her attack so hard before." Xu fell silent, thinking back on the report that she gave Headmaster Cid.

"_Sir." Xu stood at attention saluting the Headmaster sitting before her._

"_At ease SeeD. Report please."_

"_Candidate Almasy and myself were traveling through the forest to draw Cure, while being sure to avoid and T-Rexuars in the area, just as we were leaving the forest we heard a man's yell and the sound of a very angry T-Rexuar. Both of us pulled our weapons and quietly, but quickly, went towards the noise. I told Seifer that he was not to engage the T-Rexuar, but to leave it to me, while he pulled the victim away. You could tell that he wanted to argue, that he could take on the monster too, but he didn't, he accepted my order. I distracted the monster and as I saw Seifer begin to make his move towards the man I began my Shiva summoning. She came much quicker than normal, with Seifer just barely making it out before she released her attack. And her attack! It was more powerful and, and, and angry than I have ever seen it before. It was as if the T-Rexuar had done something to personally offend her. She not only did her normal attack, but actually sent another barrage of icicle spears at it after she was done. Seifer didn't see her attack, his back was to her and his concentration was fully on helping the man. I haven't mentioned it to anyone else."_

"_G__ood, let's keep this quiet until we know more about it. I will try and talk to her, but you know how GFs __think of humans, it might be hard to get any information out of her.__"_

"Xu?" A small voice broke through her thoughts. "Are you alright?"

After blinking herself back into the present Xu replied in the affirmative before smiling once more at the strange boy who was just finishing the rest of his lunch. "So Verde, I heard that you were trained by the guards in Esthar? What was that like?"

"Oh, you know, it was training. Cardio right in the mornings, then weapons training after a light breakfast, lunch, then laws and politics and finally specialized training just before dinner time. It was a full but satisfying life." Harry smoothly made up a daily schedule based partially on his final years in Great Britain and partially on his years with the Guardians Forces.

"Wow, you must be very good then. I heard Dr. Kadowaki say that you were originally coming here to take your SeeD exam. It's strange that they didn't send a message of any kind before you came." He just shrugged at that, not knowing what else to say. "Well, when you get out of here we can give you a test to see if you qualify to do it. I guess tomorrow I can bring the written exam and supervise your writing it, and once you are free we will have a quick scrimmage and see if you are physically capable to go on the field exam. It might be a bit tight though, as the field exam is due to run in four days; but I hear that if you continue to heal at the rate you are then you will be fine to do the exam. So make sure to rest as much as you can." She looked over her shoulder as the doctor came to the door of his room. "I think that it is time for your eye appointment, I'll see you tomorrow Verde."

With one more wave and a polite nod to the doctor Xu disappeared through the door and back to her duties.

The doctor came in with a small gadget that looked like a pair of binoculars and a book and sat in the seat that Xu had just vacated.

"I hope that you had a nice chat with Xu, she's such a nice girl. Now, here this is a book of frames that we can look through after I show you how this optoautometer works."

An hour later Dr. Kadowaki stood to go with a promise that the glasses will be ready by the morning, she left him starring at the ceiling for another two hours before a young woman came in with a dinner tray for him to eat. She sat and talked with him while he ate, she was telling him all about how she had just transferred Gardens as well and that she was always getting lost because this one was much larger then her last. She talked with him until she noticed him trying to fight back a yawn, she then excused herself for the evening and after Harry bid his new friend goodbye and asked her to come back and talk to him again she took the tray with her.

'What a strange name, Selphie…' Was Harry's last thought before he fell asleep again.

DMxHP SAxHP

Elsewhere in Garden, Quistis Trepe found Seifer and told him that at some point in the next few days he should go and see the man in the hospital wing; that he wanted to extend his thanks personally.

Seifer walked away from her shaking his head, he found his feet unconsciously tracing the way to the secret room in the back of the Training Center, all the while avoiding people, where he sat down with his back to the wall, after fisting both his hands into his short blond hair he let them fall across his knees before looking up at the darkening sky. No, Seifer wasn't going to go and meet the mystery man; it was becoming far too weird. All Seifer wanted was to get through the SeeD Field Exam and get sent on a mission, preferably far away from him. Even thinking about him made Seifer's head ache, strange thoughts and visions popped up and he didn't like it, but more importantly it made his chest hurt to think about him. Just the thought of this man injured physically hurt him, he was positive he didn't know the man, and this wasn't a common reaction for him, he was one of the more unempathetic people he knew; he didn't care about other people's injuries, except this man apparently and he didn't want to find out why, he would just avoid him, and when the man got better he would leave Garden and Seifer wouldn't have to see him anymore.

Seifer fell asleep to visions of the man lying injured in the white bed of the infirmary. 

DMxHP SAxHP

Hi everyone, sorry this chapter took so long to get out, as I mentioned in the last chapter I was just about to move, and apparently moving to a new city, a new school and having summer projects to do is not conducive to writing. But here it is, finally!

Sorry also that there was practically no Seifer in this chapter.

Next chapter: the Field Exam! I'm sure it will start speeding up then, I know it was a pretty lame chapter, but it will get better, just KEEP READING!

I would also like to say thanks to everyone for the favourite stories and story alerts! I do wish for a few more actual reviews though. So please, look deep inside your giant hearts and press the review button and leave something. I know it's annoying, I suck at leaving reviews myself, I usually go "WOOOO, that was great! Keep it up! WOOOO" See, that would work perfectly for me, lol. In fact, if you want, you can just copy and paste that to make it easier, lol

Thanks for reading everyone!

LOVE

Excalibur


	4. Chapter 4

Title: Lover Reborn

Author: Excalibur's Fire

FanFiction: Harry Potter X Final Fantasy VIII

Pairings: HPxDM (Past), HPXSeifer Almasy

Warnings: Slash, there is boy/boy love in this, if you don't like that please don't read, you yelling at me about it isn't going to change my mind on it so it is just moo point (like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter, lol)

Rating: T

Disclaimer: Neither Harry Potter world nor Final Fantasy VIII worlds belong to me, if they did there would be a lot more man on man loving, ('cause that shite is hot,)

Chapter 4

Harry was awake for only a half an hour before the doctor came in to check on him, and with her she brought his new glasses.

"Wow that was quick! Thank you so much for this Doctor, I, I don't have any money with me though, I'm afraid I won't be able to repay you until I can find myself a job." Harry said, suddenly feeling very embarrassed.

"Don't worry young man," Dr. Kadowaki responded, waving his concerns off. "You don't have to pay me back, but if you are still worried about money just wait until after you take the SeeD Exam, if you are a SeeD you get a weekly salary put into your account when you are on missions or working here."

With a nod she traded places with Xu who was waiting at the door.

"The headmaster thought you may be more comfortable with me supervising your test. Are you ready to go or do you need more time?" Xu asked, she was carrying a pile of papers and a few writing utensils, she also had a small novel, which Harry assumed was to occupy her while he was writing.

"Let's do this." He said with a grin, pushing his glasses up his nose.

Two hours later Harry set down his pencil with a breath. He handed the test paper to Xu, who promised to be back before dinner with his results.

Harry still had another hour until lunch and, hopefully, a Selphie visit, so passing the time Harry leaned back into the pillows and began processing information that he had picked from this world and categorizing it. After his time with the GFs he knew approximately what a Garden's purpose was, but it wasn't until his talk with Selphie that it firmed all the information. A Garden's main purpose is to put out trained fighters in the opportunity that a power crazy Sorceress comes into being; if that were to happen the Gardens would assess the situation and approach it in the appropriate manner and more often than not that 'appropriate manner' was an all out war. He learned that Trabia, Selphie's previous Garden, had come into being during the last large Sorceress War that happened nearly 50 years earlier and Galbadia Garden was the first Garden, it was created 83 years ago when Sorceress Yunalesca was raining chaos. While Balamb Garden on the other hand was the newest, only around 20 years old, no one knew the exact purpose it was made, but it already has a reputation of putting out some of the best fighters in the world.

Harry was alerted to Selphie's approach by the quick footsteps and rattling cutlery that was getting louder.

They talked about this and that, touching lightly on little topics across the board. Selphie saying that she had been adopted by her parents when she was 4 years old, that her mother and father ran a restaurant in Frawned Town, a small town near Trabia Garden. Although even at a young age she had always wanted to join one of the Gardens, and something about Balamb Garden had always drawn her attention; for as long as she could remember she wanted to join Balamb Garden, but she and her parents had made a deal, that she would go to Trabia Garden and if when she was ready to take her exams she still wanted to go to Balamb she could.

And Harry talked about how he grew up, that when he was young his parents were killed and he was sent to his mother's sister and her family. He talked about how hard it was to be raised by them, that they were not kind to him and forced him to do all chores in the house. But, that every year the palace guard does rounds of schools in the capital and test the children, and if they have talent they are trained. If they still enjoy what they do at 16 they are admitted to the guard, but after two years as a guard Harry had wanted something else, something more than the palace guard; he had wanted adventure, and becoming SeeD was the answer.

They were talking about different plans and activities for the Garden Festival when Xu knocked on the door frame and waved a small stack of papers.

"I'll leave you two to it then." Selphie said patting Harry on his knee as she stood up. After one last smile at Xu and Harry she disappeared through the door.

Twenty minutes later Harry found himself getting his first glance around the Garden as Xu escorted him to the armory for him to find a weapon. As Harry was walking he thought he saw a flash of blond walking quickly into a room down one of the halls they passed, his heart dropped a bit; he hadn't seen Seifer since he was asleep beside him when Harry had his fevered night. Harry arrived at the armory with a heavier heart then when he left the hospital wing, but once in a room filled with hundreds of different weapons his excitement began to return.

During the battle when Harry had been captured, the Death Eaters had managed to get his wand from him before snapping it, after that Harry had only been able to use some low level wandless charms and spells as defense before they were able to overtake him and bring him back to their hideout. After Draco rescued him they decided that he would need to learn how to fight without his wand. Draco had had a few sword lessons when he was younger, it was tradition that all Pureblood men can at least hold a sword without cutting off a limb and was able to help him get started, but it didn't take long for his knowledge on the topic to dry up. At that point they had turned to the muggle world and along with Ron and Hermione they took different self-defense courses before moving on to weapons training. Draco and Ron's Pureblood experience with swords had allowed them to take to the lessons like a fish to water, Hermione decided that she would best use a distance weapon as she didn't have the speed or strength needed for close combat and studied bows as if for an exam. Harry with his smaller body type wasn't able to wield a sword with the strength of Draco and Ron, but he was quick due to his youthful "Harry Hunting" escapes. After trying a few different weapons he decided on a pair of swords like Sir Balin used in Arthurian legends. Olivander had made Harry another wand, but it wasn't the same as his original wand and he didn't like using it as much, therefore Ollivander had tried to place a magical core inside his sword handles and turn them into 'wands' themselves, this was more to his liking. Therefore, after the creation of his swords he didn't use his wand, it stayed hidden on his body in case it was needed, but the swords were his first line of defense and he became very skilled with them.

Shaking memories from his mind Harry walked through the armory running his hand along matches of his two friend's weapons, not seeing one of the same style that Draco used Harry guessed that it might possibly be being used by Seifer, if he truly had the soul of his Draco he might be drawn to the same sort of weapon. Harry was passing a display of scimitars when a pair of swords down the aisle caught his eye. His breath began to quicken as he drew nearer the pair. Both had a blade of dark silver and had runes carved in and inlaid with a forest green material. The handles were made of wood which is not common with swords, wood was not strong enough to handle the force of metal on metal combat, he recognized the wood as holly and into them was carved pictures of a snake wrapped lovingly around a lion. These were his blades; he assumed they would have been destroyed in the ritual's explosion when he confronted Voldemort, but they had come back to him. _Just like Draco…hopefully_.

Harry lovingly dragged his hands down the blade handles before gently picking them up, he flipped them in his hands, testing the balance and weight, he tossed them into the air with the blades spinning before grabbing the handles and spinning them through a complicated series of movements.

A smile crossed Xu's face as she watched the display; this exam was going to be interesting. "Alright Verde, let's go to the Training Center and see what you have."

On the trip to the training center they gained a group of followers, starting with Selphie bouncing to Harry's side and with her she pulled a muscled blond boy and a small girl with brown pigtails in her hair. By the time the group entered the center they had grown to nearly 35 people, everyone had heard of the boy that Xu and Seifer had rescued in the forest and that he was going to fight Xu in hope of taking the field exam in two days.

They gathered throughout the first clearing where monster couldn't enter, the spectators making a large ring around the participants. This was going to be an interesting battle, Xu was a long distance fighter and if Verde was able to get close enough to her he would be able to win it, but he was injured and she was a seasoned SeeD so it wasn't a sure thing that he could make it that close. Xu filled her gun with rubber bullets which would cause bruises and welts but no serious damage while Harry covered his blades with a tight rubber sheath that would keep him from cutting skin if he hit her. Xu spun her guns in her hands as she bent this way and that stretching and limbering up, from the little that she did know about the Esthar guards she knew this could be a difficult battle.

Harry's face was lit in a grin; his blood was pumping in anticipation for the scrimmage that was imminent. He spun his swords casually in his hands as he looked through the crowd, Selphie cheered and gave him a large thumbs up from where she stood with the blond boy and pigtailed girl on one side and a slightly bored looking brunet on her other side. As he bent down to stretch his legs his eyes caught a flash of blond from the side but as he double checked the blond had disappeared leaving only a large dark skinned man and an albino woman who were both looking curiously to the side as if watching something. Harry deflated a little, but at least he knew that Seifer was in the room for now and would most likely witness the battle. Draco had said that watching Harry physically kick someone's ass was always a turn on and Harry could only hope the same for Seifer. Harry suddenly felt a spark of jealousy and pain in his chest at the thought of someone else fulfilling Seifer's needs after a battle, but Seifer wouldn't need anyone else for long, Harry promised himself, he had gone through too much to let go of his soul-mate again.

A tall blond woman with a coiled whip at her hip stepped forward. "I am Instructor Quistis Trepe and I will be the referee for this battle. This is an alternate Field Exam Prerequisite; you will be tested on your physical ability to participate in the exam. There will be no maiming or intentional serious injuries, no magics or GFs, the battle will continue until one fighter forfeits. That being said, do your best fighters. Begin!"

Harry and Xu began to walk slow circles around each other, both matching the steps of the other perfectly. Xu had her guns up and every few steps would take a shot at Harry, all wide, to see how he would react, he didn't, it was as if he didn't notice them at all. After 4 shots and Harry not flinching once Xu's eyes narrowed and her gun swung to the left slightly and a bullet was released flying directly at Harry, before anyone could react his right sword was looping through the air vertically above him and he was crouching on the ground with his hand stretched out towards Xu. There were startled screams from the observers behind Xu as a knife that no one had noticed Harry throw embedded it's self into a wooden support post amongst them.

Then the battle begun. Harry caught his falling sword and began running to the side as Xu began releasing a barrage of bullets at him, only missing by a fraction each time. Harry was zig-zagging trying to get close enough to turn the fight to his favour, but her bullets were holding him off. As she emptied the clip from one gun she smoothly replaced it while distracting him with her other, but the moment Harry was waiting for came when both of her clips emptied at the same time. Harry sprinted in close to her before she could reload and began his spinning double bladed attacks. Xu pulled two small daggers from sheaths at her hips and defended.

The gathered spectators were going wild for the fighters; people were yelling encouragements and tips to their favourite.

Xu was starting to tire, she didn't have the endurance that Harry had, while she had been a student, candidate and SeeD for 21 of her 30 years, Harry had been fighting a war for most of his first life and had spent the last 18 years training with the GFs and was in the best physical shape of his life not counting his small T-Rexuar injuries. She couldn't compare with him. Soon she began to falter, letting a hit here and there through her defenses and when she began to suspect she was at the end of the battle a deep voice yelled over the crowd.

"Spin and pin." Xu didn't know what that meant, but she saw Harry's eyes flash away into the crowd for a split second before meeting hers again, they were green fire.

Harry spun down on the ground sweeping his leg under Xu forcing her to jump into the air to avoid it, with his next spin his arm extended sweeping her airborn feet out from under her. His spin continued, his arms windmilling gracefully before he came to a stop with both swords against either side of her throat pinning her as she lay on her back breathing heavily in the dust. She spread her arms to the side and dropped the daggers in the dirt. Harry held his position for a few more seconds as the crowd grew quiet, before smiling tiredly at her and sheathing his swords and offering her a hand to get up. The crowd cheered and applauded the victor. Harry was distracted by the sight of a long grey trench coat swirling away deeper into the training center until Xu stepped back from him and bowed slightly which lead to a new wave of cheering, Harry dragged his thoughts away from Seifer and back to his surroundings.

Quistis came forward and held out a hand. "Congratulations, I think that you are more than ready to take your Field Exam, Verde. Come now, as the adrenaline wears off I'm sure you are going to start to feel your injured leg again, let's get you to the infirmary again before it gets too bad."

Xu tiredly leaned against Quistis' side while Selphie came and wrapped an arm around Harry's waist to walk with him to the infirmary. As they left many people were calling out their congratulations for the great fight to the pair, a couple coming up and giving Harry a pat on the shoulder.

As they were walking through the hallway the group that was standing with Selphie approached them.

"That was AMAZING!" The blond man yelled, punching his fists into the air in excitement. "I'm Zell Dincht! It's great to finally meet you Verde, Selphie goes on and on about you!" He held out a hand and shook Harry's offered hand heartily.

"That's enough Zell." The girl with the brown pigtails admonished. "Take a deep breath." She smiled at Harry as Zell flushed slightly. "Hi, I'm Penelope, I work in the library here. But Zell's right, that was pretty amazing! Where did you learn to fight like that?"

"I was trained by the Esthar Palace Guard, they are pretty intense about training there." Harry smiled and gave his well practiced tale. He turned his head to look at the third person, the brunet who had been beside Selphie. He was small, but tight muscles were evident even under the coat that he wore.

"Squall." He said holding out his hand for Harry to shake as well. "I hope that after you are better we can scrimmage together. I think that I can learn a lot from you." Squall said, uncharacteristically (and figuratively) bowing to a superior fighter.

"I think that sounds like a great idea Squall." Harry replied, smiling at the other man. "But, right now I think that I am going to take a nap."

Squall and Penelope nodded their heads in farewell while Zell enthusiastically waved as they walked away.

DMxHP SAxHP

Seifer walked through the halls confidently, appearing to all as a person on a mission. This was a secret of his; people thought you were doing important things if you walked like you were doing important things. He saw students running around excitedly whispering to each other before hurrying off, all were hurrying in the same direction, towards the training center. Earlier he had been looking for Raijin and Fujin when he noticed SeeD Xu walking through the halls being quietly followed by a messy black haired man, the man from the infirmary; as soon as he realized who it was he slipped into an open classroom before peeking his head out again to see where the pair were heading, he noticed the man looking in his direction and quickly jerked his head back again before being startled by a throat clearing. He slowly turned around and was surprised to see an entire class of 10-12 year olds who had been quietly writing a test and were now watching him curiously.

"Mr. Almasy, is there something that you needed?" Instructor Strife, the elderly battle tactics teacher asked him.

"Oh, uhh, I'm sorry to interrupt your class Instructor, but I was wondering if there was a Blaise Zabini here?" Seifer quickly said the first name that came to his mind.

"No, there is no one by that name in this class. What do you need this Mr. Zabini for?" He asked suspiciously.

"I have a message from the Headmaster for him. I am sorry; I will let your students get back to their tests now." With a quick nod of his head he rushed from the room praying the pair had passed by that time.

He was greeted by an empty corridor and released a breath that he hadn't known he was holding. He growled and fisted his hair in frustration, who was this man, and why was he acting so strangely when it came to him? He was Seifer Almasy, he acted strange over no person. Not Tara, the first girl he ever kissed, and not Tidus, the first boy he kissed. But now he was acting like a nervous school boy and that would not do. He hadn't actually held a conversation with him, but seeing that bouncy brown hair girl laughing with him in the infirmary one of the times that Seifer had snuck in to see the man had caused something angry to twist in his chest.

He turned angrily and began making his way towards the cafeteria hoping his friends would be there to take his mind off the mystery man.

His thoughts were indeed broken as Raijin and Fujin came running up to him.

"Did you hear? Xu and that man that you rescued are going to scrimmage in the Training Center, ya know"

Well, Seifer thought, that change in thought pattern hadn't lasted long. Wait…

"What do you mean scrimmage? He's still injured!"

"PREREQUISITE." Fujin put in.

"Exactly." Raijin nodded. "It's going to be his prerequisite test for the Field Exam; and I for one don't want to miss it ya know!"

"PERVERT." Fujin stated.

Raijin gave her an unapologetic grin. "If a certain smokin' hot SeeD member also happens to be there dressed to kill, literally, and getting all sweaty and dirty, then who am I to complain, ya know?"

Fujin shared a look with Seifer and rolled her eyes.

Seifer shifted his weight from foot to foot before hesitantly agreeing. "OK, I'll go with you, but I have things to do this afternoon and I don't know if I can watch the entire battle."

The trio joined a group of students who were wandering into the training center and found a spot behind a group of giggling girls. Seifer casually kept out of sight of the fighters until he tired of watching Raijin stare at Xu he turned to look at the pair as well. The first thing he noticed was the bouncy brunet standing at the front waving and cheering for the man and something ugly twisted in his chest, the man smiled back casually before bending down to stretch his hamstrings when his head snapped back up and Seifer quickly jerked his head back behind the giggling girls who broke out into a new series of giggles when 'the hot new guy' looked at them. Seifer knew that Raijin and Fujin were looking at him oddly but he couldn't bring himself to care that much, he leaned back against a support beam and tried to act as if that was what he had planned until the sound of Quistis announcing the start of the fight broke the crowd's noises.

At that time Seifer stood back up and moved over beside Raijin and Fujin to watch. They started out small, walking circles around the other, taking measure of their footing, Xu was shooting wide at him, the spectators dodging the bullets with the mystery man, but not really making any aggressive moves yet. Suddenly, with only a narrowing of her eyes as a warning she aimed at the green eyed man and faster than Seifer could follow the man dodged and countered, his eyes barely leaving the crouched form as a group gave a startled scream when as knife just missed them.

At this point even if Seifer had wanted to look away or leave he couldn't, he had completely blocked out everyone else and was only watching the man move, and move he did. His lines were perfect and he never placed a foot down incorrectly; he never made a mistake, it was as if this was all a choreographed dance. Seifer watched as he gradually worked his way through the barrage of bullets to get close enough to launch his own attack.

Seifer's breathing quickened and his eyes darkened as he watched sweat drip from the man's face during a spin, he almost felt like he would predict the man's movements, but knew that wasn't possible, there was no noticeable pattern that he could be picking up on and the moves were all performed without hesitancy that could allow him to guess what was next. _Spin, parry, kick, slash, slash, duck._

He watched Xu falter in her attack as she weakened and from nowhere the words 'Spin and Pin' echoed through his mind. He must have yelled them out loud because in the next second the fiery green eyes flashed up to meet his and the final move was made; with two quick spins Xu was pinned to the ground with swords on either side of her throat and the crowd was silent. The bouncy brunet started cheering enthusiastically and everyone followed suit. Seifer turned gritting his teeth and, ignoring the two voices calling his name and the eyes following his back, quickly made his way deeper into the training center, once more heading to the room which would most likely be empty at this time due to the fight.

He sank to the floor in his customary spot and pulled a small flask from an inner pocket of his trench, unscrewing the lid he took a deep breath through his nose before bring the container to his lips, after a brief hesitation he pulled a long drink from it. Coughing, he reveled in the burn as it slid down his throat. _How did I know his fighting pattern? Spin and pin? What is a Spin an__d pin?_

Shaking his head he vowed to forget the man, for at least on night.

DMxHP SAxHP

When the group made it back to the infirmary Dr. Kadowaki was waiting for them with the Headmaster, she assisted the now limping Harry back to his bed and gave him something for the pain and unwrapped his leg, the scab across it had torn and was slowly leaking blood, tutting she wrapped it with clean bandages and placed some pillows under it to elevate it. The Headmaster entered the room as she left.

"I asked your friend, Miss Tilmitt, to wait a few minutes so I could have a quick word with you. I am Cid Kramer, Headmaster of Balamb Garden, I'm sorry that I have been unable to come and visit you earlier, but SeeD Xu and Dr. Kadowaki were keeping me up to date on how you were doing." He took the seat beside Harry's Head. "Now, Verde, I know that you wish to take the SeeD Field Exam in two days, but I am not sure that your leg injury could handle the strain, it could be much harder than your fight today and I don't want any permanent damage to occur. But," He continued, holding up his hand to stop any of Harry's protests. "You did extremely well today, a one on one battle with a SeeD is never an easy win, but with your injury thrown in as well, we believe that you are likely more than qualified, physically, to be SeeD. But, we will need to see how you follow orders before your can be elevated to SeeD title. I believe that, if you have any medical training, you could act as a field medic during the exam. This way you are there and following directions, but out of any direct battles that could cause problems for you. SeeD Xu will be travelling between Candidate groups to determine how well they are reacting and responding to orders and we think that it would be a good idea for you to travel with her and assist any that you see need it. Do you have any questions, Mr. Verde?"

Harry was quiet for a minute, starring at the small, twisted gold wedding band on the Headmaster's finger absently before nodding. "Yes Sir, that sounds acceptable. I was taught basic first aid and should be able to field bandage the wounded effectively enough." He said with a firm nod of his head.

"Good," After patting him on the shoulder the headmaster stood and left.

Less than a second later Selphie was in the room and had thrown herself at Harry and squeezed him until he couldn't breathe anymore. "That was SO GREAT! The way you moved! Your attacks! You looked like you have been fighting for so much longer than the 9 years that you have been. You beat a fully qualified SeeD with next to no actual injuries to show for it! And that final move where you spun in circles taking her out at the knees before pinning her to the ground." She finally released him and as he tried to catch his breath she dance in a quick circle. "Oh, I am so pumped now! I feel like I could take on the world and kick its butt!"

Harry gave her a small smile but his mind was wandering, and apparently it was obvious as after barely 15 minutes Selphie excused herself for the night leaving Harry with his thoughts.

After a small bowl of soup Harry turned off the bedside light and settled back into his pillows with thoughts of Seifer running through his head. He now had confirmation that Seifer was his Draco; the only problem was that he seemed to be like the Draco from before helping Harry. He was a troubled man, not respecting authority and running from anything that confused him. Quistis had asked him on the trip back to the infirmary if Seifer had stopped by to see him. After Harry replied negatively she expressed her regret and offered to remind Seifer but Harry shook his head, if Seifer didn't want to visit him Harry didn't want to force him.

Harry needed to meet Seifer, he needed to talk to him; Harry was confident that if he could talk to Seifer he could get him to like him. With Draco it had been hard in the beginning because during that first train ride to Hogwarts when Harry refused Draco's hand in friendship it cast an ugly light over all of their interactions until Draco saw Harry at his worst. Now, Seifer had already seen Harry at his worst, so they just needed to move onto the getting to know each other better step, this seemed to be the hard part of the plan; you can't get to know someone who is avoiding you. But Harry couldn't understand _why_ he was being avoided; he hadn't done anything to Seifer…

Seifer…Draco…_Draco…Seifer._

Harry's eyes closed thinking about the grey eyes he missed so much. It hurt.

DMxHP SAxHP

Hi everyone, thank you everyone reading this, I am sorry it took so long to get out, I keep meaning to put them out sooner, but I guess it is something that I have _actually_ been keeping up with this story…I've never really done this before, lol.

Ok, I know that last chapter I said that the exam would be in this chapter, and as I'm sure you noticed..it wasn't. So NEXT CHAPTER will be the field exam. I'm hoping that the story will pick up from there, but this story is writing me at this point, so I don't really know what is going to happen anymore than you do. I know the direction it is heading, I just don't know the exact route that it will take to get there. From the beginning I really didn't expect Xu to be in so much, but I am starting to really like her, she's a nice blank character that I can play with at will ^_^

Right, so thank you everyone, please keep reading!

I love you all!

Excalibur


	5. Chapter 5

Title: Lover Reborn

Author: Excalibur's Fire

FanFiction: Harry Potter X Final Fantasy VIII

Pairings: HPxDM (Past), HPXSeifer Almasy

Beta: None

Warnings: Slash, there is boy/boy love in this, if you don't like that please don't read, you yelling at me about it isn't going to change my mind on it so it is just moo point (like a cow's opinion, it doesn't matter, lol)

Rating: K (just to be safe, but I doubt it will get that high)

Disclaimer: Neither Harry Potter world nor Final Fantasy VIII worlds belong to me, if they did there would be a lot more man on man loving, ('cause that shite is hot)

* * *

Chapter 5

Seifer led Raijin and Fujin up to the group gathering for instructions for the Field Exam, Headmaster Kramer, SeeD Xu and Instructor Trepe were standing on one side of the circle of students. Seifer could see about 2/3 of his class standing there, he that there were a few that hadn't passed the written test and wouldn't be participating in the field exam but were there to wish friends luck like Raijin and Fujin had come for him.

In the front he could see Selphie speaking excitedly with Squall and standing beside the library girl, Penelope who was trying to calm down a nervous looking Zell and wondered where Green Eyes was, he had heard rumors that the boy was travelling to Garden from Esthar to participate in the Field Exam and he seemed to pass his prerequisite battle the other day.

Instructor Trepe stepped forward with a clip board and began listing off names and groups. Selphie was in Candidate Group A and after giving Squall one more smile she skipped away to stand with a small mouse-like boy and a tall thin boy who were her group mates.

"Seifer Almasy," Quistis called catching his attention, "Squall Leonheart and Zell Dincht, Group D. Seifer you are the group leader."

"Aww, no! Can't we switch? I don't want to be in a group with him!" Zell was complaining loudly. "He's always such a jerk!"

Seifer rolled his eyes as he and his friends approached the trio. Penelope was holding Zell's hand trying to quiet him down.

"Poor Zelly-poo, if I was hurting your feelings you should have just told me! I didn't know that you had such delicate sensibilities." Seifer smirked.

Zell shook with anger and stepped back a few steps dropping Penelope's hand and began shadow boxing to try to take his mind off the horrible situation.

"Seifer, can't you be civil for even just a little while?" Qusitis said walking over to them.

"I don't know Instructor, it might do me some damage." He said sending a sneer in her direction.

"Quiet down everyone." Xu called over the talking. Once the noise had stopped the headmaster took a step forward and began talking.

"Welcome everyone to the SeeD Candidate Field Exam. This exam's purpose is not to determine how strong you are and how skilled a fighter, but your reactions in battle and how you deal with orders. There are four candidate teams, A-D, and there are three other qualified SeeD teams, E-G. We do not expect you to win this conflict on your own; that is what the SeeDs are there for. You will be proving you can follow orders and to get your first real life battle experience, if at the end you have proven yourself unready to shoulder the responsibilities of being SeeD you will not be passed, it often takes a student more than once to pass this portion of the exam, so do not feel bad if you do not succeed this time. SeeD Xu will be travelling between the candidate groups during this exam to discuss strategies and concerns with you as you go along. With her is a candidate who will be performing as a field medic, if you are injured he will be able to assist you."

Seifer felt the blood drain from his face, this man, this Verde, was the student they were talking about, he could feel it. He had done such a good job of avoiding him so far, other than the eye contact at the fight and the one close encounter in the hallway he had completely avoided seeing him since that night in the hospital. But despite that he still couldn't keep his mind off him, every time he closed his eyes all he could see was the messy black hair and after the fight the thoughts had changed slightly, he was still picturing the messy hair but now it had long thin pale fingers running through it, gripping it, twisting it almost as if in passion. Seifer hadn't gotten to sleep until extremely late the night before due to his drifting thoughts, after a few hours of fighting the images he had gotten up and went for a run while mentally going through procedures and regulations for being SeeD until he was so tired he had barely make his way back to his room where he fell asleep immediately. But now he wished he had gotten a full nights rest so he was capable of dealing with this. He couldn't even guess at how he would react to being so close to that man.

A hand squeezed his shoulder gently in concern and his head snapped back to face Raijin and Fujin who were giving him looks of concern.

"You OK?" Raijin asked quietly while they both studied his face.

"Uh yeah. Just-just nerves catching up with me I guess." He replied as he tried to give them one of his more charming smiles.

Neither of them looked convinced with that answer in the slightest, but at that moment Cid finished his motivational speech that was not motivating in the least and they were directed to the garage to a car that they would be taking to the marina to catch the transport ship.

The pair exchanged looks before sighing slightly and turning back to Seifer who had watched this happen with a crooked eyebrow.

"Fine, have fun and stay safe, yeah?" Raijin wished.

"KICKASS." Fujin ordered with a small smile.

"Will do!" Seifer said with a little salute, nervousness over Verde diminishing as his excitement for battle began to take over.

Seifer walked over to the other two in his group to find Penelope clinging tightly to Zell and Zell squeezing back nearly as tightly; they were rocking back and forth slowly as she whispered orders to stay safe. Before he could stop it Seifer felt a small pang of jealousy, he wanted someone to worry over him that much, someone to hold tightly, someone to love; but mostly the urge to vomit over the sickening display overtook him and he faked gagging at the pair. He heard Squall chuckle quietly beside him.

"Zelly-poo! Grow a pair and let's go!" Seifer yelled, effectively breaking the pair from the little world that they had been in.

Zell turned to look at him with an angry look on his face but Penelope just grabbed his face with both hands and pressed a light kiss on his lips, he sighed and leaned his forehead against hers for a few seconds before nodding and turning to join Squall and Seifer.

"Let's go." He began walking towards the garage as Squall and Seifer followed.

DMxHP SAxHP

On route to the boat they stopped at the edge of a forest to fight some Catechepillars for Cure magic and hiding when they heard T-Rexuars. They eventually made it to the marina and they were working as a team a little more, they knew that during a big mission wouldn't be the best time for them to learn how to start working together.

They got to the marina to find Xu waiting for them on the dock.

"Where have you three been? We are the last ones to leave." She said, gesturing with no subtlety to get their arses on the boat.

Seifer's nervousness grew, if they were sharing a boat with Xu, they were sharing a boat with Verde. But no, he was Seifer Almasy, he was an arrogant, cocky, big headed jerk (using words that previous girl/boy-friends had used to describe him), he was not nervous. He didn't _do_ nervous. He firmed his resolve to be distant and cold with the new man and, after noticing he was the only person left on the dock made his way to the ship.

As he entered the meeting room on the boat and noticed that Verde wasn't there he released a small breath that he hadn't known he was holding.

"Where's Verde?" Zell was asking Xu as he sat down beside Squall.

"He's most likely on the bridge at this moment; he said that he's never been on a ship before and wanted to see how they steer. I'm sure he will be back soon." She said taking the end seat, leaving the only two empty seats right next to each other. That was another thing about Verde that set off little bells on her head, Esthar was across water, the only way to get here from there was by air SHIP or water SHIP and they both used the same method of steering.

She was watching Seifer glare at the empty seat beside him when they felt the ship begin to pull away from the dock. Her eyes widened as she felt the boat shifting oddly and the acceleration come in jerky boosts. How had he done that? Verde had announced that he was going to ask if he could drive, but she didn't think that would actually allow him too, apparently, he was a very smooth talker when he wanted something. She let out a small laugh when she heard the boat horn go off a couple of times and after a few more minutes the driving became smoother, probably meaning someone had taken the steering away from the boy again.

The door opened and Verde walked in.

"And you didn't think I could convince them to let me drive Xu. I believe that you owe me 20 gils over that one!"

"Fine, I'll pay you when we get back to Garden." She said gesturing to the empty seat between her and Seifer.

"Hmm, I guess I can trust you not to run off some place tropical with my winnings." He sat and turned to say Hi to Zell and Squall across from him before looking directly at Seifer. They took a moment to study each other, this was the first time apart from during Harry and Xu's fight that they had looked at each other while the other was awake.

As Harry looked at Seifer he tried to fight the urge to compare him and Draco, they may share the same base soul but both lived completely different lives that shaped those souls. But, it was hard; the grey eyes weren't as world weary as Draco, but they also weren't filled with the unconditional love that Harry had grown used to; in fact, it had been years since Draco had looked at him with the odd look of contempt and something unrecognizable that Seifer was showing now. His blond hair was slicked back, but it looked like it was natural and not product induced which made Harry wonder how soft it would be if he were to run his fingers through it. He also noticed that the colour of the trench that was covering Seifer's body from his view was his favourite shade of grey, the shade that Draco's eyes turned in passion, the grey storm clouds that could overwhelm his mind and heart every time he looked into them.

He held out his hand, not unlike Draco did when they were eleven years old. "Verde." Harry said, introducing himself.

Seifer's eyes narrowed when Verde turned to look directly at him. The distance that they had been apart from each other during the fight when their eyes met had diminished the green that made up Verde's eyes, the green eyes that he dreamed about. At the thought of the dream his eyes moved towards the messy black hair that had taken a new lead role in his dreams and the urge to run his fingers through it was nearly irresistible which filled him with an odd mixture of contempt and yearning. He had to strongly fight an urge to lunge forward and devour the soft pink lips in front of him, lips that were quirked in a cute smile. Seifer forced his attention away from Verde's lips and noticed that he was wearing a tight long-sleeved green shirt the same colour as his eyes with a black vest over top; the vest had many pockets that he could see had small vials in them, many healing potions for the exam.

He then looked down at the offered hand in front of him and felt a strange wash of déjà vu. He became aware that everyone in the room was watching to see his reaction. He crossed his arms across his chest and ignored the hand while responding with a bored sounding. "Seifer Almasy."

The green eyes dimmed and turned to look at Xu who immediately began talking to take eyes off the pair. Once she was done Seifer announced that he was going to get some fresh air and see how far they were from the shore. Sad green eyes watched him leave.

"Just ignore him, he's a jerk anyway." Zell said trying to lighten the room's spirits.

Harry graced him with a small smile. "Thanks Zell." He looked around to see both Squall and Xu giving him sad looks. "I'm going to go talk to the ship's captain for a while if that's OK."

After a small nod from Xu Harry left the room and made his way down the hall, but instead of continuing straight to see the ship captain his path turned and he made his way out onto the lookout deck on the ship. He could see a shaped leaning against the rail, long trench coat waving smoothly in the wind with explosions going off in the distance in front of them. The door closed with a quiet snick behind Harry, but Seifer must have heard it as his frame tensed.

"I'm sorry if I have done anything to you to earn your anger, Seifer. But we are about to go into a fairly important battle for both of us here and I would really like it if we could get along during it. I would like to be sure that you wouldn't refuse my help if you really needed it just because you don't like me. I want to offer my hand again, not in friendship I guess, but more in-" He searched for the proper words. "In a civil acquaintanceship." He finished.

Seifer stood with his back to Harry for another few seconds making Harry wonder if he had even heard, before turning slowly so they were face to face.

"Who are you?" Seifer asked.

"I'm Verde." Harry responded, knowing that wasn't the answer that Seifer was looking for, but knowing he couldn't give the correct answer yet.

Seifer released an angry huff of air, but reached forward to shake Harry's hand. A warm shock ran through both men as the hands touched and Seifer jerked his hand back and resisted the urge to rub his hand on his pant leg.

"Civil acquaintanceship?" Seifer asked.

"Civil acquaintanceship." Harry replied.

DMxHP SAxHP

Seifer lead Harry back to the meeting room before announcing that they were nearly at the beach and should start getting ready.

Harry started handing out last minute potions to the group in case they were unable to use their Cure magic while Zell began bouncing around warming up and loosening his muscles. Xu checked to make sure all of her clips were full of extra ammunition while the two gunblade boys just sat back and watched, looking completely unworried.

When Harry approached Seifer to give him the extra potions he noticed that Seifer had a thick ring on the thumb if his left hand and he was spinning it nervously while the rest of his body held a calm and relaxed position. Harry knew that this was the same thing that Draco had done when he was extremely nervous about something, he also knew that he had to do something to help take Seifer's mind off what was coming up or he might blow it.

Harry sat down beside him and knew that Seifer was far gone because his presence wasn't acknowledged at all.

"What's your gunblade's name?"

Seifer turned and gave him a steady look before answering. "Hyperion."

Harry tilted his head as if urging him to continue.

Seifer heaved a sigh. "Hyperion was one of the Titans who were sent away when the GFs first appeared. The titans once ruled this world as their own before Bahamut, Alexander and Griever came and sent them away, taking this world as their own. Bahamut, the Dragon GF rules over the darkness and shadows, not making him evil, but there has to be a balance between light and dark and he works to keep that balance. Alexander, the Great Guardian GF rules over the light and all that walks in it keeping the other side of the balance. And Griever, the most powerful GF rules over everything, light or dark, and is constantly watching; it is said that if the world becomes so out of balance that Griever is needed to return it to equilibrium then he will just destroy everything and the GFs will start over and work to avoid the mistakes made before."

Harry sat there stunned, watching him with wide eyes, he had lived with the GFs for nearly 18 years and he didn't know any of this! Bahamut was one of his best friends and that he was the God of Darkness, on par with Earth's Hades, never came up. He had played games with Alexander and had had talks with wise old Griever and he never had a clue.

"Interesting…" Harry murmured, finger tapping the stone that was hanging around his throat. "Very interesting."

During the story Seifer had calmed down and quit playing with his ring, so by the time Xu announced they had arrived he was calm, cool and collected. He wordlessly accepted the potions that Harry offered him, barely sparing him a glance.

"Let's go." Seifer turned and ran out of the hatch that had opened at the nose of the ship as they beached themselves.

As soon as Harry stepped off the ship Seifer watched as he made his way over to where Selphie was standing guard at the bottom of the staircase that lead upwards from the beach. Seifer could see her smile at Verde as he approached her. He watched as the pair whispered quietly and quickly to each other before Verde leaned in and gave her a long hug which she returned enthusiastically. Seifer growled quietly as he watched it, Squall glanced up from what he had been playing with in his pouch at the growl and followed Seifer's line of sight to the hugging pair, his eyes narrowed and he fought the tendrils twisting around his stomach as he watched the brunets. Zell, oblivious to the drama from his group mates, was leaning over and stretching his hamstrings and calves.

"OK boys," Xu said, drawing their attention to herself. "Head to the town center disposing of any enemy soldiers in the process, and Verde and I will catch up with you a bit later. Good fight." Xu said sending the trio a small salute which they returned before turning to leave.

As they reached the pair at the bottom of the stairs Zell stopped to wish Harry and Selphie a good battle, as the two returned the sentiments Harry leaned forward and caught a surprised Zell in a hug as well. A large smile lit Zell's face up, and small shiver raked his body as a confused look crossed his face but Harry leaned forward and whispered a word or two in his ear and the look was once again a smile. Seifer watched angrily as Squall received a hug as well, but questions entered his eyes as he noticed Squall try to conceal a shiver as well before Harry once again whispered and gained a nod. Seifer's eyes narrowed as he saw Harry's attention turn to him. There was no way that he was going to let this kid hug him, he didn't even know him. _And would I let him go if I did hug him or would I hold on forever?_ Seifer bit the inside of his cheek in anger at the treacherous thoughts. He watched the soft pink lips curve upwards in a smile as Harry's face turned to his, and unwilling part of his stomach dropped in disappointment as Harry didn't make a move to hug him at all but only moved to shake his hand. His eyes stayed locked with the green pair in front of his when a look of concentration covered them and he felt a warmth that made the rest of his body feel ice cold move through his hand and up his arm to spread across his body, causing an inadvertent shiver to run through him. He closed his eyes briefly and tightened his grip on the strong hand that was in his, when he opened them he swore that the eyes were glowing an eerie, yet beautiful, shade of green, the same way they had glowed at the end of the practice fight with Xu, but the glow had passed so quickly he wasn't sure if he had truly seen it. The boy cocked an eyebrow and mouthed the word 'magic' before releasing his hand. Seifer starred at him with his mouth opened slightly before shaking his head and closing his mouth with an angry snap.

"Let's stop wasting our time and go." Turning he caused his grey trench coat to flare out before walking in the direction of the town center. He didn't look back; he just trusted the other two would eventually, sooner rather than later, catch up with him.

"Come on Zell, we should follow our captain." He heard Squall say, he also heard a flurry of 'goodbye' and 'good luck' from everyone before two pairs of footsteps followed behind him easily catching up.

"You two ready for some action?" They heard Seifer say in a wicked voice.

DMxHP SAxHP

"Ugghhh, this is so boring its killing my soul a little." Seifer complained as he counted bricks on a broken wall across from where he was lounging. He was sitting in a side alleyway at the center of the small town, the fountain to his right seemed to be leaking water from the side of a lithe nymph that had originally been the center of attention on the fountain, now the bouquet that she had once held that dribbled water was broken in a half dozen pieces on the ground.

"Oh shut up already, man! At least you aren't crippled!" Zell snapped from the mostly hidden corner where the other two had placed him. He had some debris tied to his lower left leg with a ripped up Galbadian uniform in effort to stabilize it without a proper splint.

"Yes Seifer, please give it a rest now. Come over here and make yourself look useful at least for when Xu and Verde get here, you know they should be arriving soon." Squall was leaning in an alcove where he was able to see the center square as well as all of the entrances, and beside him was a golden Labrador who had apparently been separated from its owners during the battle. The dog spent the majority of its time sitting at his feet starring loving into Squall's face; all three found this a little strange but shrugged it off.

Seifer grumbled to himself but, using the wall as leverage, pushed himself to his feet. Once he was vertical he moved towards a side street, kicking debris aside until the dog made a whining noise in the back of its throat and looked towards a group of Galbadian soldiers that were not so silently making their way through the section of town center where Seifer has just before been sitting. Seifer silently pushed himself against a wall and crouched down while Squall pulled further back into the alcove's shadow.

The dog ran towards the closest man and barked madly at him.

"Shut that mangy beast up, you fool." The leading man hissed.

"Yes sir, sorry sir." The man stuttered back, he took a wide kick at the dog trying to frighten it away. "Stop! Bad dog! Quiet, sit, heel, lie down. Go away!" His voice getting higher and more desperate with each word.

"Wedge, deal with it, or I will." Biggs said angrily to him.

Wedge looked frantically around trying to find something to throw at the dog, he saw a small pile of rubble and grabbed a few fist sized pieces and began half-hazardly throwing them in the dog's direction. This did not put the dog off at all, he would just sidestep if any pieces threatened to come in contact with him and continued his alarm.

"That's it. My turn." Biggs snapped both verbally and mentally. He swung around at the dog while pulling out his AK-47 and began to shower bullets at the dog. There was a horrible whining sound and then silence after the dog stumbled behind the broken fountain.

Wedge and the rest of the men stared open mouthed at their Captain as his breathing began to return to normal. After one more deep breath his head turned towards them and they all took a quick step back.

"Now I want everyone to be extra quiet for the rest of the trip to the tower, understand?" He casually pulled out the bullet clip and saw that he had wasted about a quarter of it on the dog, he popped it back in and turned sharply towards the path that they had been heading to. "Move out."

As soon as the men left the square Squall stumbled forward to the dog to check if it were still alive, it had been grazed by a few bullets but on the whole was in very good shape for just having been shot at. Squall softly patted the dog as it began licking its leg which had the deepest wound and was slowly leaking blood. Seifer exited the side street he had been hiding in and after making sure his partners were uninjured he made his way down the street that the soldiers had taken to see if they were leaving posts to watch their backs or not.

Once Seifer was out of sight Xu and Verde slipped around a corner and into the square, they quickly took in the scene and Verde rushed over to Zell and began diagnosing his leg while Xu moved to question Squall about what happened and where their leader was. As Squall reported that a group of enemy soldiers had just passed by heading towards a 'tower' Verde was scuttling around trying to find a better suited splint for Zell's leg. Seifer silently appeared from the street that he had scouted to an amazing view as the dark haired male bent over to pick up and discard chunks of wood. He shook his head clear to hear Zell and Verde speaking quietly.

"The way I was hit it should have removed my entire leg! I don't understand how I got away with just a fracture and cut!" Zell was gushing in a relieved manner. "I could almost feel a shiver as the soldier hit me, the pain almost felt as if it were dispersed across my whole leg instead of just that spot. I was so lucky."

"It's almost_ magical_ how lucky you were, isn't it Zell." Verde said quietly while locking eyes with a watching Seifer.

_Magical_. The word echoed around Seifer's head until the messy haired boy sighed while looking at Zell's leg.

"I don't think that you will be able to finish this Zell. You might have to head back to the transporter and help out there to finish off the exam." Verde said standing up.

Xu looked over at the three of them and she and Squall moved to join them. "What did you find out Seifer?"

Seifer told her that the enemy group seemed to be heading towards the old unused TV tower that topped the hill behind the town, but seemed confident that no one was following them because they weren't leaving any look outs.

Xu chewed her lower lip in thought as her gazed moved between the four gentlemen in front of her to the tower that was just visible over the tops of the buildings. "Verde, how is your leg?"

Recognizing the official sound in her voice as one that Dumbledore used when what he was saying was important, Harry saluted, "Feeling great, moving amongst the groups has loosened it up."

"Good, SeeD Candidate Verde, you will be joining Group D to replace the injured SeeD Candidate Zell Dincht. You will follow Leader Seifer Almasy's instructions. SeeD Candidate Seifer Almasy." Xu officially stated his name and station to draw his attention from where it had been starring in slight horror at Verde when it was announced that he would join the team. After the blond saluted she continued. "Your team is now on intel retrieval. You will follow the enemy to the tower and collect any information you can on what they are doing without officially engaging them in battle. Zell, I will help you back to the transporter where you will help Control to keep tabs on the candidates. Strength and speed gentlemen." Xu saluted once more before pulling Zell to a standing position and, with an arm wrapped around his waist, helped him back towards the beach where they had landed.

Seifer and Squall watched as the two left the square before turning around to meet the smiling face of Verde. His impossibly green eyes sparkling at the thought of possible battles to come. "Well fellas, let's get the show on the road!"

Squall just shook his head as he spotted the dog starring at him again. He crouched down and quietly spoke to the dog, hoping the others wouldn't hear him. Standing back up and stepping away from the dog he gestured in the direction that Xu and Zell had taken to head back to the beach. This was met with a slightly cocked head before the dog looked in the direction that he pointed and began quickly limping to a crumbling house. Squall sighed slightly before putting the dog out of his mind.

* * *

Long time coming, I know and I'm sorry, but I can't _completely_ guarantee that it won't happen again but I can promise that I won't let it go that far again. I can give you guys many excuses, but they are just that, excuses. One of the biggest being, "why write when you can read?" I read a lot of fanfic when I have the time and that keeps me from writing it, haha.

If it helps as soon as I post this I am starting on the next chapter. And I will be playing again so I will follow along as I play.

Thanks everyone for continuing to read this.

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Love you all!

Excalibur


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